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Rat city : overcrowding and urban derangement in the rodent universes of John B. Calhoun / by Adams, Jon,author.; Ramsden, Edmund,author.;
"How a landmark experiment in rat behavior changed the way we think about cities. In the decades following WWII, the American metropolis was in peril. Modern high rises hastily erected to replace slums became incubators of criminality, while civic unrest erupted across the nation. Enter John B. Calhoun, an ecologist employed by the National Institute of Mental Health to study the effects of overcrowding. Calhoun decided to focus his study on rats. From 1947 to 1977, Calhoun built a series of sprawling habitats in which a rat's every need was met -- except space. As the enclosures became ever more crowded, resident rats began to react to social stress, culminating in the terrifying world of Universe 25: a rodent habitat where escalating social disorder collapsed to violent extinction. Did a similar fate await our own teeming cities? Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden's Rat City is the first book to tell the story of maverick scientist Calhoun and his now-viral experiments. Following the rats from the baiting pits of Victorian London to the laboratories of NIMH, and Calhoun from rural Tennessee to inner-city Baltimore, Rat City is an enthralling mix of dystopian science and urban history. Social design, housing infrastructure, a burgeoning current of racism in city planning: Calhoun influenced them all, and Rat City connects Calhoun's work to the politics of personal space, the looming threat of global overpopulation, and the eclipsing of environmental psychology by pharmaceutical psychiatry. As the "war on rats" continues to be waged around the world, and our post-pandemic society reevaluates the necessity of urban living, the riveting story of Rat City is more relevant than ever"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Calhoun, John B.; Ethologists; Human beings; Human ecology.; Overpopulation.; Rats; Rats; Urban ecology (Sociology);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A guest at the feast : essays / by Tóibín, Colm,1955-author.;
From the melancholy and amusement within the work of the writer John McGahern to an extraordinary essay on his own cancer diagnosis, Tóibín delineates the bleakness and strangeness of life and also its richness and its complexity. As he reveals the shades of light and dark in a Venice without tourists and the streets of Buenos Aires riddled with disappearances, we find ourselves considering law and religion in Ireland as well as the intricacies of Marilynne Robinson's fiction. The imprint of the written word on the private self, as Tóibín himself remarks, is extraordinarily powerful. In this collection, that power is gloriously alive, illuminating history and literature, politics and power, family and the self.
Subjects: Biographies.; Essays.; Personal narratives.; Tóibín, Colm, 1955-; Families.; Identity (Psychology); Religion.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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One of the good guys / by Hall, Araminta,author.;
"Desperate to escape the ghosts of his failed marriage, Cole upends his life. He leaves London behind for a remote stretch of coast, relishing the respite from the noise, drama, and relentless careerism that curdled his relationship and mental health. Leonora has made the same move for similar reasons. She's living a short walk from Cole's seaside cottage, preparing for her latest art exhibition. Though Cole still can't figure out what went wrong with his marriage, and Leonora is having trouble acclimating to the hostile landscape, the pair forges a connection on the eroding bluff they call home. Then, two young women activists raising awareness about gendered violence disappear while passing through. Cole and Leonora find themselves in the middle of a police investigation and the resulting media firestorm when the world learns of what happened"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Criminal investigation; Gender-based violence; Interpersonal relations; Man-woman relationships; Missing persons; Patriarchy; Political activists; Secrecy; Women artists; Women; Masculinity;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Queer [graphic novel] : a graphic history / by Barker, Meg-John,1974-author.; Scheele, Julia,illustrator.;
"Activist-academic Meg-John Barker and cartoonist Julia Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this groundbreaking non-fiction graphic novel. A kaleidoscope of characters from the diverse worlds of pop-culture, film, activism and academia guide us on a journey through the ideas, people and events that have shaped queer theory. From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, Queer explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged. Along the way we look at key landmarks which shift our perspective of whats normal, such as Alfred Kinseys view of sexuality as a spectrum between heterosexuality and homosexuality, Judith Butlers view of gendered behavior as a performance, the play Wicked, which reinterprets characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or moments in Casino Royale when were invited to view James Bond with the kind of desiring gaze usually directed at female bodies in mainstream media,"--Amazon.com.
Subjects: Graphic novels.; Nonfiction comics.; Homosexuality; Queer theory;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Hope for cynics : the surprising science of human goodness / by Zaki, Jamil,1980-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Runaway cynicism is turning our world into a meaner, sicker place; director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, Dr. Jamil Zaki, is about to disrupt this narrative. For thousands of years, people have argued about whether humanity is selfish or generous, cruel or kind. In 1972, half of Americans agreed that most people can be trusted; by 2018, that figure had fallen to 30%. Different generations, genders, religions, and political parties can't seem to agree on anything, except, perhaps, on one idea: that human virtue is evaporating. Cynicism is a perfectly understandable response to a world full of injustice, harm, and inequality. But in many cases, cynicism has become the first -- or only -- tool that people reach for these days. It is the psychological hammer of our age, and we are treating others more and more like nails. Knee-jerk cynicism worsens social problems because our beliefs don't just reflect the world -- they change it. When we expect people to be awful, we coax awfulness out of them. Cynicism is a disease, with a history, symptoms, and a cure"--
Subjects: Cynicism; Hope.; Social justice;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Hello, cruel world! : science-based strategies for raising terrific kids in terrifying times / by Moyer, Melinda Wenner,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the author of How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes comes a science-based, hopeful guide on how to raise children who will not just survive, but thrive in this challenging, terrifying world -- and who could ultimately help save it. In the blink of an eye, our kids will be adults facing countless serious threats -- climate change, gun violence, political polarization, and disinformation, to name but a few. We're not going to be able to solve all these intractable problems before our kids grow up -- so how are we to prepare them for an impossibly complex and scary future? Plagued by this question, award-winning science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer interviewed parenting experts and researchers across multiple fields -- psychology, education, information literacy, technology, business, and even addiction. What she discovered: even in these uncertain times, we can still teach our kids how to take care of themselves, fight for what they believe in, and bridge divides in ways most adults aren't equipped to do. In Hello, Cruel World!, Moyer provides practical, comprehensive, science-backed tools to help our children handle the world they will inherit. Her strategies help children develop three core attributes -- coping mechanisms, connection techniques, and cultivation practices -- so that kids can learn to set boundaries, take responsibility for their actions, build healthy relationships in turbulent times, and much more. By being activists in our parenting, we can set our kids up to not just survive, but also build a better world for themselves and future generations"--
Subjects: Child development.; Child rearing.; Parenting.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The end of the myth : from the frontier to the border wall in the mind of America / by Grandin, Greg,1962-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to Trump's border wall. Ever since this nation's inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States' belief in itself as an exceptional nation--democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, though, America has a new symbol: the border wall. In The End of the Myth, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier throughout the full sweep of U.S. history--from the American Revolution to the War of 1898, the New Deal to the election of 2016. For centuries, he shows, America's constant expansion--fighting wars and opening markets--served as a "gate of escape," helping to deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But this deflection meant that the country's problems, from racism to inequality, were never confronted directly. And now, the combined catastrophe of the 2008 financial meltdown and our unwinnable wars in the Middle East have slammed this gate shut, bringing political passions that had long been directed elsewhere back home. It is this new reality, Grandin says, that explains the rise of reactionary populism and racist nationalism, the extreme anger and polarization that catapulted Trump to the presidency. The border wall may or may not be built, but it will survive as a rallying point, an allegorical tombstone marking the end of American exceptionalism"--
Subjects: Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1861-1932; Frontier thesis.; Borderlands; National characteristics, American.; Exceptionalism; Nationalism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Dead fall [sound recording] : a thriller / by Thor, Brad,author.; Schultz, Armand,narrator.; Simon & Schuster Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Armand Schultz.In the war-ravaged borderlands of Ukraine, a Russian military unit has gone rogue. Its members, conscripted from the worst prisons and mental asylums across Russia, are the most criminally violent, psychologically dangerous combatants to ever set foot upon the modern battlefield. With all attention focused on the frontlines, they have pushed deeper into the interior to wage a campaign of unspeakable barbarity. As they move from village to village, committing horrific war crimes, they meet little resistance as all able-bodied men are off fighting the war. Simultaneously, a team of Russian mercenaries has been dispatched by the Kremlin to loot truckloads of art and priceless cultural treasures hidden away in a host of churches, museums, and private homes. When multiple American aid workers are killed, America's top spy is sent in to settle the score. But in a country so vast, will Harvath be able to find the men in question and, more importantly, will he be able to stop them before they can kill again?
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Novels.; Political fiction.; Thrillers (Fiction); Harvath, Scot (Fictitious character); Intelligence officers; Mercenary troops; War crimes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Subtract : the untapped science of less / by Klotz, Leidy,1978-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Blending behavioral science and design, Leidy Klotz's Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less offers a scientific appreciation of why we underuse subtraction-and how to access its untapped potential. When humans solve problems, we overlook an incredibly powerful option: We don't subtract. We pile on "to-dos" but don't consider "stop-doings." We create incentives for high performance, but don't get rid of obstacles to our goals. Whether considering a stack of Legos, preparing a grilled cheese sandwich, or writing an essay, Leidy Klotz shows that we consistently overlook the principle of subtraction as a way to improve. Our mental preference for addition-for adding to what's already there rather than thinking of taking away-is so wide-spread and strong that we would prefer to accommodate wrong ideas than simply remove them. Drawing from his own pioneering research and scientific research throughout history, Klotz examines cultural, political, and economic trends underlying our neglect of subtraction, asserting that we have billions of years of evidence showing that lifeforms are perfectly capable of subtracting to improve. Proposing a new way to frame our behaviors, Klotz shares thought-provoking examples and anecdotes to supplement his proven techniques on implementing a new perspective and understanding of subtraction. By learning to use the counterintuitive approach of subtracting, we can revolutionize not just our day-to-day lives, but our work across every field and industry. Subtract shows how this innovative approach to life is the key to unlocking our greatest potential"--
Subjects: Self-actualization (Psychology); Stress management.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The bird tattoo : a novel / by Mīkhāʼīl, Dunyā,1965-author.;
"Helen is a young Yazidi woman, living with her family in a mountain village in Sinjar, northern Iraq. One day she finds a local bird caught in a trap, and frees it, just as the trapper, Elias, returns. At first angry, he soon sees the error of his ways and vows never to keep a bird captive again. Helen and Elias fall deeply in love, marry and start a family in Sinjar. The village has seemed to stand apart from time, protected by the mountains and too small to attract much political notice. But their happy existence is suddenly shattered when Elias, a journalist, goes missing. A brutal organization is sweeping over the land, infiltrating even the remotest corners, its members cloaking their violence in religious devotion. Helen's search for her husband results in her own captivity and enslavement. She eventually escapes her captors and is reunited with some of her family. But her life is forever changed. Elias remains missing and her sons, now young recruits to the organization, are like strangers. Will she find harmony and happiness again?"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Captivity; Disappeared persons; Journalists; Man-woman relationships; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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